I love using cauliflower as a meat replacer. It’s one of my favorite hacks I’ve picked up in my journey of reducing my meat consumption. I don’t like to label my eating habits, but I do like to find creative ways to increase my fruit and vegetable consumption. Getting out of the habit of making meat the start of a dish can be hard. Breaking any habit is hard. But cauliflower makes getting more into a habit of treating my vegetables as the star a lot easier. Thanks cauliflower!

Cauliflower is low in calories, fat, and carbs. It’s high in Vitamin C and K, and pretty good in most of the B vitamins. It is low in protein however, to be a meat replacer. But that’s ok! Because we have black beans in this dish to kick up the protein power!

If you haven’t Googled what in the world a jicama is by now, congrats! Most people don’t know what it is or how to say it. It’s pronounced HE-KA-MA. It’s a tuberous root in the bean family. People commonly refer to it as the Mexican potato–but some people would tell you that’d be incorrect. While it’s a tuberous root (think sweet potato) in the bean family (think lima beans), it’s definitely not a potato. It’s brownish in color, and big and wide like a potato would be in appearance. It’s taste is nothing like a potato though. It’s crisp like an apple, with a taste similar to some sweet apples or a green bean. It’s sweet taste actually comes from a oligofructose inulin–which is a prebiotic! Jicama is low in calories, protein, fat, cholesterol, and sodium. It’s combination of dietary fiber and prebiotics make it a great choice for gut health!

This recipe is…

quick and easy,

vegan,

gut friendly,

low calorie,

protein packed,

and FULL OF FLAVOR!

This burrito pictured with cheese is obviously not vegan, but is vegetarian! Aaron wanted cheese on his. Let’s get to it! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, line your baking sheet with foil and set aside.

I disassembled the head of cauliflower into large pieces, washed them, and then chopped away until they were into good sized florets. There’s no wrong way to do this! Transfer florets to baking sheet and cover in oil. I used grapeseed oil, because it’s what we had on hand (it’s important to switch up your oils!). Private Selection’s Adobo seasoning was perfect to sprinkle over the florets. The Adobo is a mix of chili powder, garlic powder, sea salt, and oregano. Super easy to make at home if you don’t have the blend. In the oven it went to cook for 20 minutes while I worked on the rest of the recipe!

You can get why people call jicama the Mexican potato because it kind of looks like a potato while cooking!I brought a large skillet to medium heat, then sprayed with my avocado oil spray to coat. The whole jicamas at my grocery store weren’t looking too hot, so I purchased jicama sticks instead. I usually try to avoid precut produce because of the higher markup, but I really wanted jicama! It made cooking quicker too, because I just had to quickly dice the sticks and throw them in the pan. I diced my red bell pepper and added to pan as well. Then, cooked until nice and sautéed, about 10 minutes. I had a bottle of Trader Joe’s Chili Lime seasoning, so I sprinkled the mixture with this. You could easily make this at home too, using chili powder and lime juice.

Once it was ready, I added the cooked brown rice and full can of rinsed and drained black beans to the pan mixture! Then, stirred and cooked for about 5 minutes. I grabbed two handfuls of cilantro from the fridge, chopped, and threw in the mixture. The fragrance was unreal!

The cauliflower was ready about this time, so I removed from the oven and let both items cool. It was finally time to assemble the burritos! Aaron wanted cheese in his (so vegetarian friendly), but I kept mine with just the mixture in the recipe. We both topped our burritos with Target’s Archer Farms pineapple and peach salsa. YUM. That was my favorite salsa in college. The only tortilla we had in the fridge were our low carb spinach and herb tortilla. We each had two burritos and then a side of the cauliflower on the side. I drenched everything in salsa because DUH. SO GOOD GUYS.

Wash cauliflower and break apart, discarding lettuce. Chop cauliflower into florets. Place on baking sheet with lined foil. Drizzle with oil of choice. Sprinkle with adobo seasoning (chili powder, garlic, oregano, and sea salt). Use hands to move cauliflower around to coat. Place in preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes.

It’s hard to believe we’re 7 days deep into August. Seriously, where has 2017 gone? I’ve spent so much of the year applying for my dietetic internship, waiting to know if I matched to it, celebrating that match, and then waiting for the internship to start. It felt like a lifetime away. But I start my internship in TWO DAYS Y’ALL! How in the world is that possible? I feel like it’s still two months away. Or at least I’m still in July… Not August.

July felt like a whirlwind for me. We had a lot of family events in June, plus we moved at the end of the month. All free time in July was spent trying to unpack all those boxes and get things set up. I quit my job at the end of July for some time off before the internship. I had a lot of mixed feelings about leaving my job. I had a lot of things to accomplish before the internship started (multiple TB tests, physical, setting up insurance, still unpacking, reviewing nutrition material, get school supplies, get my white coat, etc.), so I definitely needed those two weeks off before the internship to get things done!

I can proudly say I feel as ready as possible for the internship. I still need to get my desk reorganized (being home for two weeks and working on the blog has it a bit of a mess), my school bag packed, and of course I always feel like I need to keep reviewing. I’m just thankful I managed through this July and I’m having a great August so far! Okay, so the real reason you’re all here… Here’s the things that helped me through my July.

One of my favorite qualities in myself is that I’m a bargain hunter. I like using coupons, but it’s hard to find coupons for healthy foods. Enter Mambo Sprouts–a website designed to provide coupons for healthy food products. They have a steady rotation of coupons offered. I try to check them weekly for updates. This is great for eating healthy and still trying to stay on budget (especially with starting school!).

My coffee drinking habits have changed a lot over the past few years. The crazy amount of caffeine I drank really messed with my anxiety in college. I changed my habits and now I enjoy just black coffee in limited amounts. I stop drinking coffee after a certain point in the day and switch over to a calming hot tea in the evening. I’ve been changing up my black coffee by adding a splash of Silk’s almond milk creamer. I rotate between the flavors– the caramel and hazelnut are both so good!

I picked this up at my local Wal-Mart after all the hype I’ve seen on the Internet. It really is worth the hype! I use to be in the habit of keeping store bought iced coffee in my fridge during college. I outgrew it after since I was never home during the time of day I’d want ice coffee. Since I’ve been home more the past week while I’m preparing for the internship I’ve enjoy having this.

4.) Making the switch to natural soaps

We’ve been trying to switch out a lot of our products in our house for some friendlier options. One way of doing this was by making my own hand soap. I purchased four foaming pump bottles off Amazon Prime, added some Dr. Bronner’s Castile Baby Soap, a carrier oil (like jojoba oil), distilled water, and a few drops of my Young Living Purification and Lemongrass essential oils. I’ve really been enjoying them! Plus, it ends up being cheaper to make them this way in the long run. I also started using an activated charcoal soap bar I purchased from a local company that makes natural soaps with Young Living oils. I keep it in my shower and use it on my face and back. It’s helped my breakouts SO MUCH. Seriously. I have horrible acne. Actually, I have Hidradenitis Suppurativa (or HS). It’s basically like cystic acne but worse. My doctor says it’s a big long word to say I have the largest pores possible. Basically what every woman dreams of hearing… He also told me there’s nothing I can do about it. So naturally I’ve tried just about every drugstore and high end skincare remedy to try to fix it. In all my search I’ve found one product that worked as a spot treatment to help the pain. Since I started using the bar, my acne has cleared up and I haven’t had any problems with breakouts on my back since! This is a HUGE win for me.

This is what I’ve been using as a spot treatment and it’s seriously the best (no longer) secret weapon in my skincare routine. Ever get those horrible breakouts that you can’t pop, but are a large and in charge mound on your face? Those bad boys hurt. This is the only thing I’ve found that works for me when those pesky things decide to debut right before an important day. I’ve also never had a bad product from Freeman’s Beauty. This one just works the best for my skin problems.

What were your favorite things in July? Let me know in the comments below and maybe I’ll try them out in August!

“So, what is a dietetic internship anyways?” is probably the single most question I’ve been asked since matching to my dietetic internship back in April 2017. Actually, if I’m being honest no one even knows it’s called a dietetic internship. Unless you’re actively trying to work towards a dietetic internship or you’ve survived one already, most people don’t really know what a dietetic internship entails or even what it means. Which I totally get people not understanding. I barely understood the process until my last year of college and it’s what I was actively trying to do with my life.

So, what is a dietetic internship? The dietetic internship is designed to provide, at minimum, 1,200 hours of supervised practice. The time given to complete your hours differs from internship to internship. Some are as short as 8 months, and some run for 4 years. It really just depends because they’re all so different! I’m truly lucky that my internship is only just under a year and I’ll earn my MS in dietetics at the same time! Those that are only 8 months typically just focus on the required hours. Those that run 4 years typically have a MPH or MBA built into the program. Others can fall somewhere in between there (like mine!).

Yeah, but what do you actually do in the dietetic internship? Again, all internships are different. Each internship has a focus area. A majority of them focus on clinical nutrition (aka the dietitians most people are familiar with–the hospital), some research, very few sports, and then some community (like my internship!). Since my internship focuses on community, I have a Graduate Research Assistantship I do once a week (and sometimes more often) where I work in the community nutrition field. One day a week I have my required graduate nutrition courses. Currently, you are not required to have a Master’s degree to be a RDN, but soon you will. Therefore, not all internships have some sort of masters built in–but they’re working towards it. Mine does not require a masters (just a few certain classes like Advanced MNT 1 and 2, Research, etc.), but I only need about 5 extra classes to earn my MS in Dietetics, so I’m going to go ahead and finish it up! The remaining three days a week I’ll spend doing my rotations–which count towards those 1,200+ hours we talked about earlier.

Who is eligible for a dietetic internship? To land a dietetic internship you must have, at bare minimum, a bachelor’s degree and a verification of a completed DPD program. A DPD program is a Didactic Program in Dietetics. This is an approved coursework list by ACEND (aka the accrediting agency for nutrition). You can find a list of all DPD programs on the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ website. I completed my DPD program and earned my BS in Human Nutrition and Foods all at the same time from West Virginia University!

Can you apply for a dietetic internship at anytime? Most dietetic internships start in the Fall semester and you find out if you made the cut in the Spring. This generally means the internship application opens in December and closes (aka is due by) Valentines’ Day. You find out in April (aka the Spring) if you landed one or not. A few internships start applications in the Fall and start the program in the winter (aka January). So basically the dietetic internship is a once a year opportunity, twice if you’re lucky. It’s important to stay on top of your application!

So, once you’re eligible, how do you get a dietetic internship? Unfortunately there is a shortage in dietetic internships/preceptors so dietetic internships are extremely competitive! I’ve been told many times I had a better chance of getting into medical school than landing a dietetic internship. Yikes! You can also find a list of all Dietetic Internships on the Academy’s website. Using this list, you can narrow down the internships and apply to each program using DICAS (Dietetic Internship Central Application System).

Wait, so what is DICAS? DICAS is similar to SOPHAS or PharmCAS in that it’s a centralized application website. You fill out one long application on DICAS and add in each program you wish to send the application to. All schools ask for basic information, such as transcripts. Each program has specific, unique requirements too. Once you’ve completed DICAS, you can submit your application to each program. Each program has an associated DICAS fee, plus any additional fees to the program, and D&D matching fees. Once you’ve submitted your DICAS, you must rank your schools for matching.

Wait, what is matching? Matching is the goal! Matching means you landed that dietetic internship! Matching is the process they use to determine what program matches up with each applicant the best, based on ranking. You must create an account with D&D Digital to be able to match. Once completed, you rank each program you applied to in order of your first choice, to your last. Ranking carefully is important! You want to rank the school you think you are most competitive for first to increase your chance of matching–because you can only match to one program! This is very similar to the process medical students complete for their rotations. Once you’ve ranked your programs, you have to wait and hope for an interview. I had an interview with WVU (my second choice program), but not any of the other programs I applied to because some programs, like the one I matched with, don’t do interviews. Then you wait for Match Day!

Why is Match Day important? Match Day is the day all applicants can log onto their D&D account starting at a specific time of day to see if they’ve received a computer matched appointment (aka an invitiation into the internship). If they have, they must contact the program the next day accepting their seat. If not, they will lose their seat… which brings us to Second Round.

Second Round? Second Round happens a few days after Appointment Day, after programs have determined if they’re full or not. If a program has openings, they will release their name to D&D for all students who did not match first round to see. Second round is a battle field because this is where the organization stops and it turns into a free for all. Basically anyone who applied during first round, but did not receive a match can apply for second round. There is no deadline. It is a first come, first serve. Each program determines if they want to immediately accept the next application, or hold off in hopes of a better candidate. Therefore, some programs fill up within hours of second round, and some don’t fill up for another month or two. After second round, it goes into ISSP (Individualized Supervised Practice Pathways, pronounce “ispeys”) which I’ve never really totally understood. From what I’ve gathered, it’s basically a way to avoid “wasting” a year, as some call it, if you didn’t match. ISSP tend to vary from program, to program, so the best way to understand them is to contact that program’s director.

So, why even bother with a dietetic internship? Completing a dietetic internship is a requirement to be eligible to set for the Registered Dietitian, Nutritionist (RDN) exam. That’s the end goal after all, to be a Registered Dietitian, Nutritionist when this is all said and done!

This sounds awful. How do you make yourself competitive for a dietetic internship? First, it’s now awful! It’s challenging in the best way possible. Second, that answer is a story for a different blog post! Hint hint. I’ll have a blog post for the RD2B series coming soon on how I made myself competitive and matched to my dietetic internship!

Like you already know and I’ve already said, understanding the dietetic internship is confusing! But I really hope this blog post at least helps you understand it just a tiny ounce better. If you’ve read this it’s probably because either 1) you’re thinking about becoming a RDN some day, or 2) you know someone wanting/trying to become a RDN. Either way, it’s time you reach out to those people or anyone in the dietetics field! I promise they’re some of the nicest people ever and definitely want to help you understand our field! We’re passionate about what we do and here to educate on it.

If you have any questions about the dietetic internship or becoming a RDN, definitely reach out to me!

This past weekend Aaron and I went to Morgantown with my parents to see Aaron’s parents. We were meeting them for dinner, but we got there mid-afternoon to explore the town and enjoy the day.

We drove around and did some sight-seeing. Aaron and I always enjoy seeing the new updates. It’s crazy how much has changed in just the two years since we moved–and even the few months since our last visit! I barely even recognized University Ave, a street I called home for three years. I love and miss Morgantown dearly, but I can’t imagine living there again right now where I’m at in life. All the sight seeing definitely had us both excited to move to a new city with more to offer though! I’m exited to see where we land after the internship is over. Hopefully in the Carolina’s.

After driving around, we ended up on High Street to eat at one of my favorite local burger joints Tailpipes. My entire time in Morgantown (all 5.5 years) I always got the same order. I decided to switch it up this time. I got the classic deluxe. It comes with a standard local Angus burger, lettuce, tomato, red onion, American cheese, and pickles. Oh, and of course some fry sauce on the side! I’m already missing their fry sauce so badly!!

Next we walked up High Street to go to the Cupcakerie. It’s super cute and super pink inside. They have the best cupcakes I’ve ever had in my entire life. They’ve ruined all other cupcakes for me. My mom had called ahead and secured our order of cupcakes. My favorite cupcakes are the Red Carpet Red Velvet (“Classic southern red velvet cake, topped with our signature cream cheese frosting and sprinkled with luscious dark chocolate shavings”) and the P’Nutty for Chocolate (“chocolate mousse cake filled with a chocolaty peanut butter surprise, topped with creamy peanut butter frosting and sprinkled with luscious dark chocolate shavings”).

After we had our cupcakes ready for the trip home we headed to the Town Center to do some shopping. I found some really cute clothes for my internship at TJ Maxx (and a few other things) and most of them were on clearance! I was so happy to find a few pairs of dress pants for $10!

We loaded up the car with our purchases because it was already time to meet Aaron’s parents. We ate a Black Bear aka one of my FAVORITE restaurants in Morgantown. Actually, no. Black Bear is one of my favorite restaurants ever, period. I ordered the Irie Member burrito. It comes with chicken, cheese, rice, black beans, pineapple, jicama, and a Jamaican jerk sauce. I ordered the hot salsa and sour cream on the side so I could control the topping. It also comes with the standard side of slaw and tortilla chips.

We stayed awhile and visited. Afterwards, we had one last stop for Aaron. We headed to his favorite local brewery, Chestnut Brew Works, so he could fill his growler.

Our drive home was a typical night time I-79 drive–dark and full of fog. We took a slow drive home and got home really late. But it was totally worth it! We had a great time in Morgantown and I’m excited for our next visit already.

What are your favorite things to do in Morgantown? Let me know in the comments below. There are so many new things! I’m always looking for recommendations on something new to try.

I honestly don’t even know where to start about leaving my job. I loved working at WIC so much and I’m definitely going to miss it. My time there really fueled my love for working in community nutrition and I can’t wait to return to the field after my internship. My final day was last week. But from where I traveled for work, I had “final” days at each site. At Cabell, my friend Shelley made me delicious mini cherry vanilla chocolate chip muffins and double chocolate cake.

My goodbye party was at Kanawha though. This was my home site. They threw a Mexican themed pot luck. My work sister and friend, Kadija, has been on maternity leave. She stopped by for the lunch and brought my favorite kind of baby–a big, fat, breastfed baby. It was so good to spend time with everyone. I hadn’t been at Kanawha lately, so it was nice to get to see everyone and catch up. My actual last day of work was at Putnam–my favorite clinic. This was the clinic I spent the most time at and really felt like home. I was glad it was where I had my last day. It’s a smaller clinic, so I was the only Nutritionist there. We had an ice cream party at the end of lunch to celebrate my last day.

It honestly didn’t feel real leaving at the end of the day. Maybe because I’m still living in the same town… It just feels like I’m going on vacation or something. IDK. But this is the last thing from a vacation… Man I wish I was at the beach because…

This time off is no time off! There’s so much to get done!

Here’s everything I’ve accomplished in just the past few days:

One TB test completed and read for the internship

Still unpacking from moving (only one more box left !!! and some finishing touches)

Getting my desk set up in the office for school

Selling unneeded items on Facebook. Every bit of money saved up helps!

Spending time with family

Running some miscellaneous errands (one last use of my employee discount to stock up on contacts, getting school supplies, handling closing with our last townhouse, etc.)

Anddddd what’s left to finish up:

Another TB for the internship

Physical for the internship

Parking permit for campus

Signing my Graduate Research Assistantship contract

Paying Fall tuition

Brushing up on nutrition (MNT ahhh)

Weekend trip to Morgantown to visit Aaron’s parents!

More time with family

Taking my cousin dorm shopping

And probably like 10 other things I’m blanking on

Okay so enough with my to-do list… Let’s that about that dietetic internship because EKKK !!!!

Here’s what I know about my dietetic internship so far:

1.) It runs Monday-Friday. Weekends are all MINE. Yay! After having a Monday-Friday job for nearly two years, I’m SO happy to keep my weekends. It’s rare to be in the healthcare field and not work weekends. So I take the small wins where I can find ’em.

2.) We have our graduate classes every Monday. My director registered us for classes this week! I’m required to take three graduate classes this fall for my internship. My classes will be: Dietetic Internship 1 (where we meet and discuss our rotations, etc.); Advanced Medical Nutrition Therapy 1 (this is the class I need to prepare for the most!); and then Research (reviewing current literature in the field, etc.).

3.) We’ll have rotations 3 days a week–but they change weekly. One week I may have rotations Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. The next week could completely change!

4.) The one remaining day will be for my Graduate Research Assistantship. I am SO thankful for this Graduate Research Assistantship. It gives me a small stipend every 2 weeks. This will definitely help with gas and food and maybe some small bills. It also gives 1/2 tuition reimbursement. BLESSED.

5.) Not everyone has the same rotations at the same time! I may be at my WIC rotation while someone else is doing their Clinical 1.

6.) We all have Clinical 2 at the same time during the summer as our last rotation.

7.) I only need to take 5 more graduate classes to finish up my Masters of Science in Dietetics! So I’m hoping to take two electives during the Fall, two in the Spring, and one during the Summer–which lets me finish BOTH my DI and Masters in less than a year!!! Becauseeeeeeee

8.) The internship will be done at the end of June 2018!!!

I’m hoping I can continue to blog during my internship because I recently learned some internships don’t allow you to blog about it. I guess I’ll find out during my orientation! I really want to be able to share this time so I can help anyone with questions about the internship process. So stay tuned!

Have any questions on dietetic internships? Let me know in the comments or send me an e-mail.